Sex offenses regain a role

Sunday

Jun 28, 2009 at 12:01 AMJun 28, 2009 at 6:21 AM

T.J. Greaney

About 124 convicted sex offenders in Boone County who had been exempt from state registration requirements will receive letters in two weeks ordering them to register with the county. The move, prompted by a recent Missouri Supreme Court ruling that brings the state into compliance with federal law, will nearly double the county’s caseload.

These men and women have spent about three years “exempt” from registering since a June 2006 state Supreme Court ruling found the law only applied to offenses dating back to 1995, the year the registry was created. Judges determined that forcing people with older offenses to register amounted to an ex post facto law.

The new ruling wipes out that decision and says all offenders must register.

The offenders will have three days after receiving the notice to visit the Boone County Sheriff’s Department, fill out paperwork and be photographed. Later, they must personally check in with officials every 90 days or six months, depending on whether their crime was against a child or adult.

The new registrants will join 144 men and women already registered as sex offenders in Boone County. It is considered an unfunded mandate.

“They didn’t give us any funding for it. They just gave it to us and said, ‘Here you go, get it done,’ ” said Detective Andrea Luntsford, who supervises the registry in Boone County and is expecting an influx of new registrants between July 7 and 10. “And we will get it done because it’s important.”

The offenders also will be subject to other restrictions, including a new law forbidding them from handing out candy at Halloween.

To what degree this makes Columbia neighborhoods safer is an open question.

Luntsford was unaware of any “exempt” offenders who committed sex crimes in Boone County during their three-year absence from the registry. In general, she said, the registry gives families valuable information about their neighbors and allows authorities to keep tabs on the movements of these people. But she said it is not a substitute for parental supervision. “I think it gives people a false sense of security,” she said. “I mean, I know there are no sex offenders in my neighborhood. I know that, … but they could be spending the day there; they may have family there; they may have friends there. It doesn’t mean that they’re not in your neighborhood. It just means that they’re not registering that they live in your neighborhood. I try to caution people: ‘Stay aware.’ ”

Beth Huebner, a criminologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who studies sex offenders, said there is no research showing the registry prevents recidivism.

Still, Huebner said, allowing law enforcement to keep track of offenders over the course of their lives is a worthwhile tool. Their victims are often intimidated and ashamed, and it sometimes takes years for details to surface.

“I’d say if they haven’t done anything in three years or five years, the chances of them recidivating or committing other crimes is pretty low,” she said. “But for sex offenders we see that their crime patterns are usually much more elongated. We usually try to follow them for a minimum of 10 years. … The longer the better for this group.”

Joseph Carrier, a criminologist at Columbia College, applauded the additions. He said the reason to track sex offenders isn’t to prevent crime; it’s to give information. “Registration will not prevent future crimes,” Carrier said. “It will allow families to know if a sexual offender lives next door or around the corner. … Without registration, parents may have no way to know a potential threat to their child is next door.”

There’s no telling how many people still live at the addresses they last listed in 2006, and deputies must track down the re-registering offenders who have moved and the ones who just decide to ignore the official letter.

“We’ll just have to see if they come in or not,” Luntsford said. “If they don’t, then we’ll go get ’em. We’re going to get them registered one way or another.”